Housing & hockey keep Canadians coming back
Love the info we found in this article By Helen Tracey-Noren
Special to The Republic |Â azcentral.com
Roughly 872,000 Canadians travel to Arizona each year, spending upwards of $800 million, according to the Canada Arizona Business Council. Which two things about metro Phoenix are appealing to many Canadian visitors? Hockey tickets and home prices.
Housing prices alone would make many Canadians move, visitors say. Throw in mild winters and the fact that Phoenix has a professional hockey team — hockey is Canada’s national sport — and that’s a recipe for snowbirding. Jobing.com Arena, home of the Phoenix Coyotes, last month installed a Tim Horton’s doughnut shop and cafe, a beloved Canadian restaurant. In another bid to woo Canadians, Jobing.com Arena will host a rock concert March 8called CanadaFest.
Donovan Sutton, originally from Toronto, moved to Phoenix when he was 12 years old. Sutton said hockey reminds him of Canada, and he is not surprised that so many Canadians come out for the games in Glendale.
“It’s the national sport back home,” said Sutton. “Everybody in some way, shape or form likes or enjoys hockey. In a non-hockey market like Phoenix, I think they rely on bringing in northern hockey-market type teams because it’s going to sell tickets.”
Sutton believes that Canadians and tourists from the Northeastern states aregood not only for the hockey team, but also for the Glendale businesses near the stadium. For the 2013-2014 season, the Coyotes’ home game against the Edmonton Oilers grossed the highest attendance at 17,416 people on New Year’s Eve, according to the Coyotes website.
“You bring in any Canadian team, and this is what you see,” said Sutton. “Edmonton comes into town, Vancouver comes into town, Winnipeg comes into town, Toronto. It just fills the place.”
Sue and Pete Anderson split their living time between Mesa and Oakville, near Toronto. They said it’s mainly the weather that attracted them, but they haven’t missed a home game in the Valley.
“It’s warm, dry, clean, fresh air, the sun, no humidity, no rain,” said Pete Anderson. The couple have been snowbirding for eight years. Sue said they have season tickets in Toronto and try to make it to every Coyotes game while in the area, despite the drive from Mesa.
One American dollar is worth about $1.11 Canadian, according to the Bank of Canada. This allows Canadians to buy houses in Greater Phoenix for significantly less money. The Canadian Real Estate Association reports that the average price of a house in 2012 in Montreal is about $331,000 Canadian, or $298,704 U.S. The average price for a house in 2013 in the metro Phoenix area is roughly $181,400.
Many businesses in the Phoenix area, from real-estate firms to the Coyotes, cater their advertising toward a Canadian clientele. With the weather warming up and less than a dozen home games left in the season, many of these Canadians will be heading home soon. But with the draw of more affordable living, the comfort of their national sport, and the increasing strength of the Canadian dollar, these neighbors to the north will return with an even stronger presence.
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